The 28-year-old will remain on the sidelines for Saturday's La Liga trip to Getafe but Zidane rejected the notion that reported interest from Manchester United should have persuaded the reigning Spanish and European champions to cash in at a time when France sensation Kylian Mbappe was on the market.

Asked before his 100th game at the helm whether Madrid had missed a chance to cash in on Bale, Zidane said: "Not at all. You have to live the present, I do not think about any of that.

"He's the first person that is bothered about this situation. He doesn't want to be out of the side either. But things happen and we have to accept them."

Zidane is unsure precisely when the winger will return, given his situation is complicated by carrying two separate injuries at present.

"He's had two things – an injury in Dortmund [Bale was substituted late on in Madrid's 3-1 Champions League victory] and then he's also felt something in his hamstring," he explained.

"I can't tell you when, I can't tell you how but he is getting better.

"We're going to see day by day, to see how he is. He won't come back in a week or in 10 days but we will look and him every day and see how he progresses.